Re: Workload management

Mark,
This is a very tough question because there are no standards. Every lab
is different in the productivity they expect (I'm thinking of the woman
I met who was working 6 days a week, ten hours a day by herself because
she thought she owed to the lab, and the pathologists she worked for
thought that was great!).
I did this a couple of times using the old CAP workload units. I had ten
years of data to draw from, however, including "non-workloaded" data
that accounted for those things the CAP does not account for (computer
work, teaching, answering the phone, etc) but I don't have a model I can
take off the shelf and give you. Suffice to say it took a lot of work to
make a spreadsheet summarizing all the data. I got two extra positions
out of it by showing that our workload had increased 50 percent and the
personnel had only increased 10 percent.
It may be that you can get by just showing data on workload increase
using raw numbers of cases/blocks/slides/stains etc. Other factors may
include new duties or procedures, lack of equipment, etc.
Tim Morken, B.S., EMT(MSA), HTL(ASCP)
Infectious Disease Pathology
Centers for Disease Control
MS-G32
1600 Clifton Rd.
Atlanta, GA 30333
USA
email: tim9@cdc.gov
timcdc@hotmail.com
FAX: (404)639-3043
----Original Message Follows----
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 22:22:40 -0700
From: "A. Mark Briones" <3briones@thesocket.com>
Subject: Workload management
To: HistoNet Server <HistoNet@Pathology.swmed.edu>
Overworked Histonetters --
Has anyone developed a histology duties spreadsheet that can be used to
evaluate the need for additional staff (FTE) in a hospital based
Histology
Lab? Last week, I attended an ASCP teleconference on a Model for
Evaluating
Cytopathology Staffing Needs. I would like to work on a model for our
histology staffing needs. I am working on a spreadsheet but fear it may
be
either too complex or too simplified. We have two HTs to cover 5 (7.5
hr/
day) days a week, rotation on weekends (4-8 hours), and cover each other
for
sickness, required and unscheduled time off ?, vacation ?, etc.
Continuing
ed. and team meetings are a thing of the past. I need a solid, flag
waving
justification for a part-time HT ready for presentation in the next few
weeks. Help!
Mark Briones
Valley Children's Hospital
Madera CA USA
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